Indians among those safely evacuated from Sudan, says Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday announced the evacuation of Indian nationals and citizens of other countries from Sudan. In a statement, Saudi Foreign Ministry said,''Indians, as well as people from other nations, arrived safely from Sudan, including diplomats & international officials.''

"The number of citizens who were evacuated reached 91 citizens, while the number of people who were evacuated from brotherly and friendly countries reached approximately 66, representing the following nationalities (Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Canada, and Burkina Faso). The Kingdom worked to provide all the necessary needs of foreign nationals in preparation for their departure to their countries," Saudi Arabia informed in a release.

Indians, as well as people from other nations, arrived safely from Sudan, including diplomats & international officials: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pic.twitter.com/XoqykgnF2v

— ANI (@ANI) April 22, 2023

Earlier, Sudan's army said it had agreed to help evacuate foreign nationals as gunfire and air strikes echoed across Khartoum. A statement from the Sudan Army chief Fattah al-Burhan said the United States, Britain, France and China would evacuate diplomats and other nationals from Khartoum "in the coming hours on board military transport planes from the capital, Khartoum.

The development comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaireda high-level meeting online to review the security situation in Sudan, during which he "assessed the most recent developments in the crisis-hit African nation, and received a first-hand report of the conditions on the ground, focusing on the safety of over 3,000 Indian citizens currently in the country."

External affairs minister (EAM) S Jaishankar met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and discussed the situation in Sudan. "Focus understandably was on Sudan. India strongly supports efforts towards an early ceasefire, leading to the creation of safe corridors. Will continue to work closely with the UN and other partners in this regard," Jaishankar tweeted.

Tensions between the military and the Rapid Support Forces, as the paramilitary is known, have escalated in recent months, forcing a delay in the signing of an internationally backed deal with political parties to revive the country's democratic transition.

Current tensions between the army and the paramilitary stem from a disagreement over how the RSF should be integrated into the military and what authority should oversee the process.

The merger is a key condition of Sudan's unsigned transition agreement.

However, the army-RSF rivalry dates back to the rule of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019.

(with PTI inputs)